It is worth noting that artist’s rendering of the Seward statue that appeared in the sponsors’ brochure, on their website, and, I believe, in the Empire during fundraising — I just found it on the Juneau Community Foundation websiteshowed the statue situated on the edge of the plaza. This would have allowed and even invited other statuary to join him. At the time, I was skeptical about another old white man — I am one myself — but that possibility made it more acceptable. I was quite surprised when I saw it installed dead center, making any other additions relatively less significant. Moving the statue to a less dominant position would simply reflect what the sponsors indicated was their own original intent in their rendering and would allow for the addition of others such as Elizabeth Peratrovich, Bill Egan, perhaps other Native leaders from further north less familiar to us here in Southeast.
Tom Melville,
Juneau
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